91 F. Supp. 907 | D. Alaska | 1950
By Chapter 66, S.L.A.1949, the Territorial Legislature increased the license taxes on resident fishermen from $1 to $5 and on nonresident fishermen from $25 to $50. The $25 tax, imposed in 1933, Laws 1933, c. 30, when the pur- • chasing power of a dollar was more than double what it
Plaintiffs seek to restrain the enforcement of this act, so far as it applies to nonresident fishermen, on the grounds that:
(1) It contravenes the 14th amendment in that it discriminates against nonresidents;
(2) That it conflicts with the provision of Section 9 of the Organic Act, 37 Stat. 512, 514, 48 U.S.C.A. § 78, requiring uniformity of taxation on' the same class of subjects;
(3) That it encroaches on the admiralty jurisdiction, thereby substantially affecting its uniformity, and .
(4) Burdens interstate commerce in violation of Article 1, Section 8, of the Constitution.
Since the third contention is disposed of adversely to plaintiff by Alaska Steamship Company v. Mullaney, 9 Cir., 180 F.2d 805, 12 Alaska 594, and Just v. Chambers, 312 U.S. 383, 392, 61 S.Ct. 687, 85 L.Ed. 903, and.it is well settled that a tax of this kind is not a burden on interstate commerce because the taxable event — the taking of the fish — occurs before the fish have entered the flow' of commerce, Toomer v. Witsell, 334 U.S. 385, 394, 68 S.Ct. 1156, 92 L.Ed. 1460, and that the uniformity provision of the Organic Act does not apply to license taxes, Alaska Fish Saltery & By-Products Co. v. Smith, 255 U.S. 44, 41 S.Ct. 219, 65 L.Ed. 489, these contentions will not be discussed.
So far as the remaining contention that the tax violates the Fourteenth amendment is concerned, the questiom differs in form only from that presented in Martinsen v. Mullaney, D.C., 85 F.Supp. 76, 12 Alaska 455. In that case this Court held that in the absence of evidence of the existence of a rational basis for classification, the tax of $50 on nonresident fishermen was invalid under the Civil Rights
The evidence further shows that the net annual earnings of trailers for a season of 4 to 5 months average approximately $3500; of gill netters in Bristol Bay approximately $2500 for a season of 20 days, while the average earnings of those employed on cannery tenders and traps are approximately $1500 and $2000, respectively.
I am of the opinion, therefore, that the classification of fishermen into residents and nonresidents rests on substantial differences bearing a fair and reasonable relation to the object of the legislation, within the doctrine of Roy
Accordingly, I conclude that the tax is valid and that the complaint should be dismissed.